(Photo: A shop in the Minneapolis, Minnesota airport earlier today.)

Completing the pre-Stonewall morality fable, Sen. Larry Craig of Idaho will announce his resignation tomorrow. Now, I find the idea of sex with random strangers in bathrooms as off-putting as the next gal, but really, who doesn’t think this move is really about the taint of homosexuality in conservative circles rather than the stigma of infidelity, hypocrisy, or the guilty plea? After all, David Vitter, whose actions were far worse in my estimation — in that they were exploitative in addition to illegal — remains in office. Shame on all of them.

Finally.

GFR in TAP Online, “Early Caucus Date Could Hurt Dems in Iowa”:

The compression of the primary calendar could seriously damage the ability of students to participate in the Iowa caucuses in January, say students and political observers in the state. Traditionally held in the middle or toward the end of January, this year the caucuses, which kick off the presidential primary calendar for both parties, are scheduled for Jan. 14, a day when most colleges and universities in the state will still be on winter recess.

“Christmas vacation ends a week after the January 14 caucuses,” Des Moines’ Drake University Democrats president Jordan Oster, 20, noted after catching New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson at the Iowa State Fair earlier this month. “That’s definitely a big concern….[in 2004] people got back onto campus the weekend before the caucuses.”

“The earlier date just makes it more difficult for everybody,” he added.

It will also make it difficult for any political campaign that is relying on student organizers to drive older voters to the caucus sites, go door-knocking in the weeks before the caucuses, or win student precincts based on simple spill-over effects from younger Iowans’ general enthusiasm for their candidate.

You can read the whole thing here.

It’s not under a cloud, it’s flaming!

Sorry, couldn’t resist. But it is. There’s a huge wildfire. And lots of smoke. And where there’s smoke…

Hmmm, I wonder if this has anything to do with it:

Married men do less housework than live-in boyfriends, finds an international survey.

But married women do more housework than their live-in counterparts.

“Marriage as an institution seems to have a traditionalizing effect on couples—even couples who see men and women as equal,” said co-researcher Shannon Davis, a sociologist at George Mason University in Virginia….

“It’s consistent with prior research, which has shown that the roles of wives and husbands are very powerful,” Marks told LiveScience. “In a cohabiting relationship there aren’t such strongly prescribed social norms, which trickle down to things like housework.”

The arrest and guilty plea of Iowa frontrunner Mitt Romney‘s Idaho state chairman in a public restroom gay sex sting is unlikely to have an impact on the presidential preferences of Iowa social conservatives, said Iowa Christian Alliance president Steve Scheffler today. Idaho Sen. Larry Craig stepped down from his position with the Romney campaign as soon as news of his arrest broke.

“He could have been working for anybody or supporting anybody,” said Scheffler. “I mean, he’s a Republican. I don’t see that that’s directly a problem for the Romney campaign.”

Craig also served as a Romney liason to the U.S. Senate. Romney, who is running as social conservative, condemned Craig’s actions on a CNBC show, saying:

“The truth of the matter is, the most important thing we expect from elected-an elected official is a level of dignity and character that we can point to for our kids and our grandkids, and say, `Hey, someday I hope you grow up and you’re someone like that person.’ And we’ve seen disappointment in the White House, we’ve seen it in the Senate, we’ve seen it in Congress. And frankly, it’s disgusting.”

“I guess the bottom line is, if the allegations are proven to be accurate, or he was involved in what it looks like it might be, then yes, I think he should resign,” continued Scheffler. “People and individuals who talk about family values ought to be a moral example.”

Still, said Scheffler, “A candidate can’t possibly be expected to monitor everyone’s personal and moral background.”

–Crossposted from Iowa Independent.